Ok so two years ago I bought 2 spinning and 1 casting Lews Mach II combos. They seemed like they were good quality, for a reasonable price. After each trip, I would “gently” wash them with water as I’ve been told/read that hitting them w water to hard actually drives the salt and grit deeper into the reel. Got my rods out for respooling yesterday.... the reels seem fine, but the eyes, especially on the spinning reels are deteriorated as hell, one of which actually split, dropping the eyelet out and exposing just the metal. What is y’all a me thing for keeping rods and reels clean?I thought I was doing a good job. I can’t afford paying that kind of money for gear that’s only gonna last two seasons

After trips in the salt I just lightly spray them off with a garden hose and let them air dry. Maybe wipe them down with some corrosion x with a lent free towel, too. I try to break them down completely once a year for a rebuild or anytime they get dunked. Sounds like your doing OK with the reels, jut make sure to grease and oil as specified by Lews.

The rod eyes are an interesting issue as their website says they are stainless steel. I make sure to hit each eye with freshwater after each trip as well. I have several rods that are many years old and have not had issues. Maybe you got a bad batch? Lews only has a year warranty, but I would still reach out with pictures and see what they say.

Neumie wrote:After trips in the salt I just lightly spray them off with a garden hose and let them air dry. Maybe wipe them down with some corrosion x with a lent free towel, too. I try to break them down completely once a year for a rebuild or anytime they get dunked. Sounds like your doing OK with the reels, jut make sure to grease and oil as specified by Lews.

The rod eyes are an interesting issue as their website says they are stainless steel. I make sure to hit each eye with freshwater after each trip as well. I have several rods that are many years old and have not had issues. Maybe you got a bad batch? Lews only has a year warranty, but I would still reach out with pictures and see what they say.

The best trick for rods and reels that I've learned deckhanding is to put a layer of wax on the exposed surfaces like you do with your boat. Do it when they're clean and new reapply once a year. keeps them insulated from the salt. Other than that rinse with fresh water like you're doing.

Having imported hundreds of rods from China, I cannot recall ever having corrosion problems with a rod that used Fuji guides. I'm open to the possibility that Fuji has put out some stinkers. I've just never encountered one. They add just a few $$ to the cost to build a rod, so you can find them on some low to mid price rods.

The problem with "stainless" is that it technically means that the metal has a certain percentage of chromium. Most stainless steels are not recommended for use in salt water. Slower to corrode, but corrode they will.

Also, there are dozens (hundreds?) of companies in China that make guides nowadays. Some of them make a decent guide, but it's impossible to tell whether the guides on a given rod are going to hold up unless they specify which company's guides they're using. That's another nod toward rods with that Fuji tag hanging off of it. They don't eliminate the need to rinse the salt off after each trip, but I've never seen one split from corrosion.

On a related note, the Beijing International Fishing Tackle show (Chinafish 2020) happens in early February, and I'm going (unless the new flu gets worse). It's a worthwhile trip for anyone who's interested in sourcing fishing tackle from the world's largest manufacturers. It's gotten smaller in the past few years, but still a great trade show. There's some trade shows in Weihai, Yantai and Tianjin throughout the year, so anyone planning a tourist trip to China may want to time the trip to make one of them...

This is something I’ve been using some on reel seats and guides on fly rods, seems to be durable. Leaves a bit of a waxy residue so I don’t think it would be good inside a reel.

I’ve had rod eyes go bad like that. You can carefully scrape off the old one and put on a new one yourself if Lews won’t help you out. I’ve done that on rods and I just use some leftover 30# braid for the foot wraps, but I really don’t worry about how things look, just so that they function.

Keep in mind this is after two seasons, and I assure you I try to keep my gear clean to prevent this! This is actually sad. I hope Lews makes this correct

The green says those are nickel-plated (carbon steel - or brass?). As far as the stainless goes, metallurgist and PE here, magnetic stainless will pit in the salt (440C, and some of the newer higher carbon knife stainless steels pit very quickly). Non-magnetic (nickel) stainless alloyed with nitrogen is the toughest and most corrosion resistant in the salt. It's funny, I have a decades-old Spyderco Salt made from H-1 nitrogen-strengthened nonmagnetic stainless - it never gets much attention (occasionally clean with Boeshield and lube the pivot and spring). But it has rust in one spot - the H-1 stamp, from residual tool steel that made the stamp.

Fuji "deep pressed" guides have a seat for the ceramic insert formed into the stainless frame - they're more than just glued in place, they're mechanically pinned. https://www.fujitackle.eu/flippingbook/ ... ippingbookNote Fuji offers some carbon steel guides, too, but they have all have "C" in the first two letter designations. Mostly, though, Fuji guides are stainless and titanium. https://www.fishonmag.com/fuji-concept-o/These are the relatively inexpensive offshore Fuji HNOG (black-finished stainless and economy hard aluminum oxide inserts - O)

Two seasons? I'm fishing rods 25 years in the salt (bottom) and 15 years in the salt (top). Yes, $200+ rods, but you can get Fuji guides on $100 rods, too. this Lamson LP-3.5 fly reel has been in the salt since '87 - I'm sure rinsing, good maintenance and Boeshield all help - seen examples on ebay that don't look this good

Thanks for the confidence. I have these niche rods from Japan, XUL salt, and two of these have been in the salt 9 years now. One is 7'6", will throw 1/2-gram; the other just slightly heavier, 7'9", though both are max 6-lb line. Caught a big schoolie double, 17" and 19" on 4-lb copolymer last November, Arroyo dock fishing (going back for a weekend Jan 31)Not terribly expensive, a $50 Tica Cetus reel, and $80 Takamiya Rockfish rods Fuji single-foot guides - just now took this photo, 9 years in the saltIt surprises me Lew's would cheap out so, but I would guess the combo was intended for freshwater.

Every coast trip, usually have a staging day before the trip, and schedule a wash day after the trip. I know my friends who live at the coast, and go out days in a row, may not be as meticulous with their tackle as I am, or somebody like Neumie. Of course I'm lucky in work, as a consultant, you could say I have the world's greatest part-time job.

I’m sort of the opposite, hard on gear, tools, reels, rods, etc. My dad would always say “son, you could break an anvil.” It’s pretty true. One reason why I never sell my gear as it will be beat all to h*ll after a couple of uses. Don’t lend me your stuff and expect it to come back the same. It’s not in my dna. Baitcasting reels have always been a particular bugaboo for me and it’s not if they are going to eventually fail, it’s when. I’ve tried different approaches to maintenance, farming it out, rinse, self-break down, don’t rinse. If I get 2-3 years, I’m happy.

Fly reels are different. Much more simple mechanically than baitcasting reels and I’ve yet to have one go bad after heavy use except a pressed painted carbon steel reel not intended for saltwater. Those Fuji guides are great. Cabelas used them on the 7/8 weight CGR, the little stripping guides, and those guides still look great after tons of saltwater use.

I think where most DIY guys overspend on guides is going to SIC. I've never been able to wear out a Hardloy (or equivalent) guide, and they're a lot cheaper than SIC.

That said, I'm new to braid... Anyone tuned in here ever wear out a ceramic guide with braid?

I used to wear out stainless and chrome guides in a year or so when I was a kid and that's pretty much all we could afford. That was with mono. But never a ceramic of any type. At least not that I recall.

impulse wrote:...That said, I'm new to braid... Anyone tuned in here ever wear out a ceramic guide with braid?

Every rod maker will tell you any grade of ceramic guide insert will hold up to braid. If you go back to the old days of braided silk, you see grooving of nickel silver line guides, not from the braid itself, but from the fine, hard silt that builds up in the weave of the braid.

themadhunter wrote:Has anyone here ever or currently use SixGill?

not familiar with them, but if you're just looking for a rod, there are a lot of good ones out there, e.g., St. Croix Mojo, 13Fishing Omen, Lamiglas Black inshore, Falcon - just throwing out...

btw, it's retired now, but I still have the Lew's BB-1LNG I fished inshore in the 80s and 90s. There's just a touch of filiform corrosion in the painted diecast foot, but the reel functions.

themadhunter wrote:For roughly $200+ for a combo I expect it to last if it’s being taken care of. I can’t afford to change out gear every 2 years.

If they can’t help me, I guess I’ll use tax money for some custom rods hoping they can last longer, but we all know custom rods are pretty expensive.

You can get an AllStar Classic rod with Fuji guides for $50- less when they go on sale. We've had some of those for over a decade and they look like they're new when I sand the grime off the cork with 600 grit sandpaper. If AllStar's not your cuppa (they changed hands awhile back so I can't speak for their current rods), there are tons of rods in the $40-$100 range that use Fuji guides.

Ron Mc wrote:btw, if you want to clean cork, you don't have to sand it - put it in the steam from a tea kettle and rub it with a wet sponge.

Even 60-y-o grime

That looks good, and on a 60 year old rod with collector value, your way will preserve the value.

But wet sanding the cork with 600 grit paper also makes it smoother than a baby's butt. If the cork is real rough, start out with 320 grit, then 600. Try it one time and it will feel like a completely different rod. Nowadays, I wet sand the grips on brand new rods. It's a step that's too expensive at factory labor rates, especially on low-mid price rods.

Edit: I'd add that wet sanding really doesn't do much (other than cleaning) for a casting or a spinning rod, because you're holding onto the seat. But on a fly rod, it really improves the feel.

thanks - I've sanded rod grips on a rod winder before, cleaned them with citric acid polishing cloths, but the steam and sponge cuts to the chase.That Harnell cork looks different because it's not rings, it's a solid cork block.

impulse wrote:...That said, I'm new to braid... Anyone tuned in here ever wear out a ceramic guide with braid?

Every rod maker will tell you any grade of ceramic guide insert will hold up to braid. ...

One thing to add about braid, though. Not all braid is the same, and you sure see differences reflected in price. I think cheaper braided lines may not be as smooth or round, which could make them more abrasive and more prone to twisting. The exception on the low-cost end is Yo-Zuri, which is coated, and it's my go-choice for braid, even though it's not the smallest diameter. Another coated 8-strand braid is Florida Fishing Products.

themadhunter wrote:For roughly $200+ for a combo I expect it to last if it’s being taken care of. I can’t afford to change out gear every 2 years.

If they can’t help me, I guess I’ll use tax money for some custom rods hoping they can last longer, but we all know custom rods are pretty expensive.

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I don't think you need to go to full custom rods. There are quite a few rods in the $100-$150 range which are great. Although I mainly thow the higher end Waterloo Rods, I do own a Salinity and it's been a great rod for the past 3-4 years I've owned it. They also have the Phantom which is their entry level rod, and it seems to get good reviews. I've also used a couple of the Falcon coastal rods over the years and they've held up as well. The Academy H20 Ethos seem to get good reviews as well from those who use them in the salt.

I would look at the Waterloo Phantom or Salinity, Laguna Liquid, H2O Ethos, Falcon Coastal or Coastal Clearwater, or St. Croix Mojo Inshore. Prices for these rods are in the $80 to $160, but should give you many years of service.

themadhunter wrote:For roughly $200+ for a combo I expect it to last if it’s being taken care of. I can’t afford to change out gear every 2 years.

If they can’t help me, I guess I’ll use tax money for some custom rods hoping they can last longer, but we all know custom rods are pretty expensive.

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I don't think you need to go to full custom rods. There are quite a few rods in the $100-$150 range which are great. Although I mainly thow the higher end Waterloo Rods, I do own a Salinity and it's been a great rod for the past 3-4 years I've owned it. They also have the Phantom which is their entry level rod, and it seems to get good reviews. I've also used a couple of the Falcon coastal rods over the years and they've held up as well. The Academy H20 Ethos seem to get good reviews as well from those who use them in the salt.

I would look at the Waterloo Phantom or Salinity, Laguna Liquid, H2O Ethos, Falcon Coastal or Coastal Clearwater, or St. Croix Mojo Inshore. Prices for these rods are in the $80 to $160, but should give you many years of service.

Ron Mc wrote:One thing to add about braid, though. Not all braid is the same, and you sure see differences reflected in price. I think cheaper braided lines may not be as smooth or round, which could make them more abrasive and more prone to twisting. The exception on the low-cost end is Yo-Zuri, which is coated, and it's my go-choice for braid, even though it's not the smallest diameter. Another coated 8-strand braid is Florida Fishing Products.

Dirty little secret about braid... A lot of it is the same. Made by the same factories in Japan, sold in bulk spools, to be respooled and repackaged with a name brand. Can be a cheap brand name, or a premium brand name. And the price difference is a result of the narrative and the mystique bought at huge expense by sponsoring TV shows and tournament anglers and...and...

That's not to say there are no standouts. And there is a big difference between 4 strand, 8 strand, 16 strand and some of the weirder stranding. But I could be in the braid business next month for a few thousand $$$. I can even have braid on spools of my own design and color shipped direct to me, ready for retail. But it would cost me a huge amount of money to convince customers that mine is any different than the hundreds of other brands already available on Amazon and EBay for a fraction of what the big guys charge. And my pockets just aren't that deep.

If I already had an established brand of rods or lures, for instance, I could piggyback a braid on that name. That's how a lot of the "premium" braid brands got started. They didn't have anything new or better. They just had a great marketing group and a story...

Edit: BTW, I learned all this at the Beijing International Fishing Tackle Show, which is coming up in February (China Fish 2020). I highly recommend that show for anyone interested in the fishing BUSINESS. It strips away a lot of the hype when you get to see the actual factories behind some of the famous brands. I've also toured a couple of hundred factories making rods, reels, lures and other fishing equipment over 20 years. A real eye opener. I'd hold off going this year because of the Wuhan Flu, but I already have my plane tickets.

Last edited by impulse on Wed Jan 22, 2020 10:22 am, edited 1 time in total.

Ron: Reading your cork re-hab process reminded me! Do they make cork grips in flavors? Most of the flyfisher catch pictures have the guy posing with a big fish and the fly rod grip is in the guy's mouth! Seems like Crown Royal or Jack Daniels would be a good cork flavor. Or Amaretto, for the lady flyfishers. Or Cruzan Rum for me. TexasJim